


Of thieves and hearts

by LadyDenna



Category: Spirits and Thieves - Morgan Rhodes
Genre: Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Eventual Fluff, Everyone Is Alive, F/M, Family Secrets, Gen, References to Canon, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 17:40:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14938877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyDenna/pseuds/LadyDenna
Summary: Everybody wants love, power or acceptance, but they all can lose their hearts in this game. Fate has brought vastly different people together, but a mysterious cult and a well-organized band of thieves threatens to rip them apart.





	1. Crys

She was supposed to be at school, but Crystal had never been good at following rules. She had planned to skip as many classes as possible without being expelled (not that that would be so terrible), so she could graduate just as her mother expected. Then she would be free to search for her dad and start her studies in order to be a famous photographer like her idol Andrea Stone (if she ever decides to waste her time studying things that she could learn by herself).

The University of Toronto probably wouldn´t seem like an interesting place for a photographer, but Crys, being somewhat like a hipster, would disagree. College kids (college people, in general) were so busy with their own lives that they hardly paid any attention to her at all, usually assuming she was another student. They didn´t even care for her Pentax and her mania for taking photos of everything, which was a blessing because she was sick of people looking at her like she was a stalker or a freak. 

She was walking around the park, looking for someone interesting enough to portrait, hoping to take a shot that could resemble Andrea´s marvelous portraits of common people, when she spotted the boy wearing the black leather jacket and red scarf. He was gorgeous, tall and handsome, with messy dark hair and tan skin. Maybe his nose was crooked, like if someone had punched him in the face, but that just made him look more interesting in her opinion. She focused the camera´s lent and realized that his eyes were hazel and he had a birthmark under the right one. Now, that elevated his face from nterestign to unique, even when most of the people would consider it an imperfection. 

She shot just when he smiled and his smile said that he was well aware of what she was doing. Shit!

“Hey, blondie!”, he said, walking to her. Crys resisted the urge of running away and be considered not just a stalker and a freak, but also a lunatic, and stayed right in her place while he was approaching. Now that she thought about it, his face looked a little bit familiar…

Oddly, the boy seemed to recognize her too.

“You know . . . ,” he said. Fashionably messy, mahogany-brown hair, hazel eyes, a killer smile. “You look really familiar to me. Do I know you?”. He didn´t wait for her answer. “Of course, I remember now! You´re the bitchy loner, aren´t you?”

“Excuse me?”. Did Mr. Handsome just call her bitchy loner, right in her face? What the hell was wrong with this guy who might or not be a stranger?

He didn´t seem to realize how offensive he sounded. That stupid grin was still on his face when he talked again.

“Yes, you are! Crys Hatcher, right? Little Becca´s older sis. She´s my little brother´s best friend, you know?” Crystal would have changed his label from Mr. Handsome to Mr. Fucking Annoying if she haven´t recognized him. 

How silly of her! He was Farrell Grayson, the middle son of famous business man Edward Grayson, local bad boy and kind of a legend in Mytica High School, alas, as he had said, brother of her sister´s best (and only) friend. Hallway rumors said he used to go drunk to classes and his parents paid a big “donation” to school so he could graduate. And even then, she was not sure if he actually decided to go to college or not.

Now she remembered vividly that one day, a year ago, when he climbed on a cafeteria table and threw money at the other students while proclaiming it was his birthday. Adam told Becca, later that day, that Farrell´s birthday was on November, not April, and while Crys didn´t understand that stupid behavior, she was sure as hell that the guy meant problems. Yet here she was, just in front of him after skipping classes.

“Only my friends call me Crys”, she spat bluntly. Maybe she was not a goodie two shoes like her little sister, but he was already some kind of alcoholic delinquent. By what right did he call her Crys, as a long life friend, after just calling her bitchy loner? She didn’t need to precise that she didn’t have friends anymore, since her two only friends had moved away.

Her rudeness didn´t seem to affect him in a barely minimum. His smile even got wider… Furthermore, he put an arm on her shoulders, as if he was her very best friend.

“Well, that´s great, Crys. We could be friends, I certainly need new ones. You see, my jerk “friend” forgot about our date and I´ve been waiting him for ages. We were supposed to spend the day braiding our hair and talking about cute boys.” Was he was drunk or something? He didn’t look like he was, but who knew.

“Sincerely, I don´t care”, she said, struggling to free herself of her embrace. He let her go with a laugh that only infuriated her. She had her photo, which was a good one even when her model was an ass, so she didn´t need to stay and hear his nonsense.

“A little bit serious, are you? You´re gonna get old faster than you should, Crys”, he pointed out, smirking. Was it her idea or he did seem to enjoy annoying her?

She didn´t answer him, just turn around and flew away. She was not his toy to have fun with.


	2. Farrell

It wasn´t his intention to be rude to the girl, truly. That was just the way he was, especially after Connor´s suicide. His parents labeled him as toxic, unpredictable, lost case and tried to send him to some psychologist who could fix him using pills. He had obviously refused their “help”. He was nineteen, soon to be an adult, and didn´t have to afford their bullshit. He had more important issues, like discover who Connor´s murderer was.

Suicide and Connor were two words that didn´t make sense together. His older brother had loved life, even when he was a dramatic artist sometimes. Maybe his break up with his girlfriend Mallory had hurt him, but there was a huge difference between a little depression and cutting his veins.

And that difference, for Farrell, was called Markus King. 

He grabbed his cell phone and googled the name of his most recent favorite graphic novel. It was called “The darkest magic” and followed the adventures of a necromancer boy and his trope of friends while trying to dethrone an evil witch queen. It was a little cliché for his taste, but the graphics were good enough and the newest tome looked promising. The author´s name was some Alcander Verus, a name so ridiculous it had to be fake.

Just when he was looking for a local bookstore to acquire the book (his parents had seized his credit card after he crushed the car, so he couldn´t buy it online), his so called “jerk friend” appeared.

He was a tall blonde guy, dressed like a wanna be model. His name was Lucas Barrington and he was Connor´s best friend. Farrell didn´t like him very much (in fact, he thought he was an ass), but had tolerated him long enough to gain his trust. And finally all his efforts were going to have results, since that was the very day when Lucas would take him to meet the infamous Markus. 

“You´re late”, Farrell pointed out cheerfully, as if the lack of punctuality didn´t affect him. Maybe he was used to be late to everywhere, but that didn´t mean he liked that behavior in other people. “I was going to burst in tears thinking of how you could have been kidnapped in your way here.”

Lucas didn´t even smile, which was weird. He was dead serious when he spoke:

“Markus wasn´t sure to meet you. He probably won´t like your sense of humor”

“Well, his loss. I find me hilarious”, answered him non-chalant. Lucas sighed and asked him to follow his pace until they were out of the building, then indicated him to get into his car.

“I thought Markus would meet us in the university”, he said, surprised. 

“He changed the plan. We´ll see him in his mansion”, stated Lucas, driving. Farrell didn´t like that change, but he was determined to find out what role had Markus in Connor´s death. The beast wanted him to go to his cave? He would go. He would do everything he needed to do.


	3. Becca

Becca was talking with Adam about their holiday when the new guy arrived. He standed awkwardly while the Literature´s teacher, Mr. Watcher, introduced him to the class.

“This is Maddox Corso, I hope you will all be nice to him”, he said with that low voice that made him seemed older than what he looked.

His words were followed by an uncomfortable silence. Was he expecting them to chorus something like “Hi, Maddox”, as if they were little kids? Sometimes Becca couldn’t understand adults. What she understood was shyness, and since the boy looked like he could be an introvert like her, she moved her hand in the air and showed the vacant sit beside her, right in front of the class. Adam sometimes joked that was the nerd´s place, but she didn´t care and hoped the boy wouldn´t mind either.

“Uh, thanks”, said Maddox once he was seated. He was really cute, with big chocolate eyes and messy dark brown hair. Becca liked him already.

“You´re welcome”, she muttered, before Mr. Watcher cleared his throat and started with his class.

She didn´t see how he grinned like a lovesick puppy, but Adam swore, later that day, that that was exactly what happened.


	4. Maddox

Maddox was about to have a heart attack.

“All will be fine, Mad...son”, said Barnabas, trying to give him a reassuring smile that ended looking awkwardly similar to a shark´s grin (if sharks could grin, not that he knew it).

Barnabas and he were still having a rough time while being together. His father (how weird to call him that) was someone sarcastic and talkative most of the time, whereas Maddox was shy and quiet. He had lived for sixteen years with the woman he thought that was his mother until one day this stranger appeared in front of their door with leader Valoria and announced he was his biological father and was there to take him away.

Maddox´s first instinct was to sneak away from the tall, intimidating foreigner, and cry hugging his mamma. However, he was sixteen, almost an adult, and Damaris was firm when she practically ordered him to listen to her brother. 

Barnabas wasn´t very talkative at that moment. He told him that his wife Eva and him used to be part of the community until Maddox was born. Eva had died few days after giving birth and Barnabas was casted away (he didn´t say why), so Damaris decided to raise Maddox as her own son. But now Maddox was a teenager and Barnabas wanted to recover their lost time. 

Maddox was astonished. The only fatherly figure he had ever had was Livius, Damaris´s fiancée, and she had sent him away the moment she realized he was a gambler and abused Maddox physically and psychologically. He had got accustomed in the previous weeks to the sound of traffic, the smoke and the noise, but he was feeling overwhelmed at that instant. All his life he had thought he had a mother and didn´t have a father, when truth was that it was the inverse.

However, he had decided to give Barnabas (and life outside the Limeros community of believers) an opportunity. He had spent all his life in a farm, knowing about technology but being unable to enjoy it, so it seemed like an exciting decission then.

He was more frightened than enthusiastic now, standing outside the bu ilding labeled as Mytica High School. There were many students and they were so different from the people back home! Would they like him? TV shows often portrayed high school as some kind of wild kingdom with a clear hierarchy of populars and losers, and he was sure that he didn´t belong with the first ones.

“Just don´t be nervous, there´s nothing to worry about”, kept saying Barnabas, making him feel even more nervous. He was feeling sick. He was going to faint, or puke, or maybe both.

“I´m not feeling good...”, he muttered before Barnabas grip on his shoulders tightened. He raised his head and found a beautiful woman standing in front of them. She had long golden locks, blue eyes and a warm smile. 

“Hi, Maddox. I´m Liana Bellos, the headmistress. I hope you´ll have a great time here at Mytica…”, she said, offering him her hand.

Barnabas forced Maddox to stand backward while sending the woman a dead stare.

“Stay away from him, you, monster”, he hissed.

“When you inscribed Maddox here, I thought even you would understand how important it was for us to meet. After all, Eva was my...”

Barnabas interrupted her with a dry laugh, making her perfect eyebrows frown and her warm smile fade.

“Eva was nothing to you or your venomous sister, Cleiona. I admit I was surprised that you left that stupid cult after I was banished, but you´re as bad a Valoria. Both of you are monsters and a new name doesn´t change that”, he spat, furious.

Liana didn´t answer him. She was trembling when she looked at Maddox, her hands turned into  
fists, and muttered:

“I hope we´ll see again, in better conditions. Have a nice day” before leaving.

Maddox wanted to shout at his dad for his horrible behavior, but his dark eyes told him that was not a good idea. He was just, or even more conflicted than the headmistress.

“Go to school, kid, don´t bother yourself with these bullshit. This has nothing to do with you.”, he groaned. For a moment, he looked so much older than his thirty five years.

Once inside the building, Maddox discovered he had no idea where to go or what to do. He felt terribly out of place with his perfectly ironed shirt and trousers, and was relieved when a really nice girl with headphones told him where his class was.

He entered the classroom just when the teacher appeared, so he was being presented just few seconds later. There were so many people and so much noise that he felt kind of dizzy and begged to God not to have another panic attack.

“Choose a desk and sit”, ordered Mr. Watcher while going to his own desk.

Maddox scanned the place nervously and spotted the blonde girl waving her hand in the second file. She was gorgeous, not otherworldly like headmistress Bellos, but in a more terrenal way. Her skin was pale and her eyes were dark blue, the color of the sky at night. He went to her direction, hypnotized, and when she said “You´re welcome” in that sweet voice, he forgot about his insecurites and Barnabas anger and truly felt welcomed.

**Author's Note:**

> All the characters belong to the amazing Morgan Rhodes, I just ship them <3
> 
> I'm not a Native English speaker, so if you find a mistake, please tell me and I'll try to fix it.


End file.
